Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. (from IMDb)

Somehow, it's been 40 years since the release of 1985's Back to the Future. Universal is going all-out in 2025 to commemorate the release as well. In addition to a brand new 4K box set release (more on that soon), the movie is back in theaters for one week only, getting its debut on IMAX, as well as in other premium formats like Dolby. I'll start by saying -- as a diehard fan of the original movie, seeing it in IMAX is a gift. I was grinning like an idiot for basically its entire runtime. Now, when the trilogy debuted on Blu-Ray, and more recently 4K, the higher definition really gave the films new life. However, apparently, there's only so much that can be done when bringing a movie like this one to IMAX. We were pretty surprised it wasn't crisped up and presented clearer on IMAX, but it's most likely more so an example of the limitations of an older production like this one. (There's only so clear you can make these older films.) Still, seeing it in the floor-to-ceiling IMAX presentation, I found myself seeing things I've never noticed before - and that's definitely an accomplishment for a film I've seen countless times since I was 5.

Now to the movie itself. Back to the Future is about a 17-year-old kid named Marty McFly who's friends with a local inventor named Doc Brown, who has a bit of a reputation for being more of a crackpot than a successful scientist. But after years of misfortunate, Doc is finally testing out his latest - and biggest - invention: a time machine. At one o'clock in the morning, Doc invites Marty to the parking lot of the Twin Pines Mall where he's about to unveil the grand project -- a DMC Delorean converted into a time machine. Unfortunately, Doc cheated a group of Libyan terrorists out of a case of Plutonium - which is what the time machine runs on - and the terrorists show up to the mall to enact their revenge. In an effort to escape, Marty dives into the Delorean and races around the parking lot to evade the Libyans, accidentally triggering the time machine's circuits, sending him back to 1955. From there, Marty bumps into his teenage parents on the way to trying to find a younger Doc Brown to get his help, all the while endangering his future existence in the process.

Honestly, Back to the Future is almost a perfect movie -- with one major setback, which some will inevitably disagree with. There's a surprising amount of profanity mixed into the film that just doesn't fit the story or its tone. Worse yet, most of it is blasphemy -- taking the Lord's name in vain, which is especially disheartening. Most of it is uttered by Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly, and it's scattered throughout the movie. Otherwise, there's a little innuendo and some sexual references that mostly go over kids' heads, but there's a great humanity about Back to the Future that basically makes it a truly timeless tale.

Back to the Future is a story that can mean different things to viewers when they see it at different points in their lives. When Back to the Future released, the story was present-day, focusing on a kid who goes back in time to a point where his parents were his age, and it gives him a new appreciation for these humans who seem so unrelatable in his day. It can be hard for us, as kids, to imagine our parents were ever teenagers, too, and that alone makes Back to the Future such an intriguing idea. But the movie doesn't stop there. Alan Silvestri arguably turns in the best score of his career, creating a theme that is way better than the movie deserves, but it elevates the film to such greater heights. Think about it -- that soaring theme is awarded to a story about a kid escaping a school bully or trying to save his own existence. It's way bigger and better than it needs to be. Then there's the car. This movie has made the rare DMC Delorean absolutely iconic. It's up there with the Batmobile and Ecto-1. Then we have a solid script (profanity aside) that brings a lot of heart and humor to the story. It takes itself seriously when it needs to, and really brings the laughs along the way, too. And finally, the cast. It's interesting to hear about the challenges the production faced trying to get this cast together to make the movie (Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly and even filmed for two weeks as the character before Fox was given the role). But the combination of Fox with Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown is just the kind of lightning-in-a-bottle casting that makes an instant classic. Lea Thompson turns in a memorable performance as Lorraine Baines (McFly) and Crispin Glover is fantastic as George McFly. Finally, Thomas F. Wilson is so great as the villainous Biff Tannen that he turns in one of the great love-to-hate bad guy performances for the ages.

The content for Back to the Future is probably more appropriately PG-13 by today's standards. There are several uses of the "S" word, while the rest of it consists mostly of several uses of Jesus' name in vain, and a couple of "g*dd*mn." There are also quite a few uses of "d*mn" and "h*ll" as well, among a couple uses of "S.O.B," "*ssh*le," and "*ss." There is no explicit sexual content, but there's a gag about George being a "peeping Tom," and we see him looking through a girl's bedroom with binoculars to see her adjusting her lacy bra. Biff, who's quite the high school bully, tries to force himself on Lorraine a couple times. At one point, he's egging her on in the lunch room, telling her she wants him to "give it to" her, to which she slaps him. During the film's last act, Biff traps Lorraine in a car with him and we see it rocking back and forth. We don't really know everything that goes on in there, but he's clearly manhandling her in some way before George interrupts them. It may be a little heavy for a family movie, though, since it's basically domestic violence and attempted rape. There's a little blood when Marvin Berry cuts his hand by accident, and then we see it wrapped up with a bloody bandage, and Doc has a small bloody cut on his forehead in 1955 from an earlier unseen moment.

Back to the Future is an absolute 80's classic and it remains one of my all-time favorite movies (it's in my top 5 for sure). I still find the amount of profanity and blasphemy -- in a movie that could easily be a more family friendly one -- so frustrating, but it is what it is. If you're a fan of the film, do not miss its theatrical re-release. And if you have yet to see it, take a look at the content before taking the family (Or use a service like VidAngel to watch it).